Vision and Mission

Vision: A world where every person has access to relevant, quality education and lifelong learning.

Mission: To provide support and promote innovative solutions to the challenges faced by ministries of education and governments in the complex task of improving equity, quality, relevance and effectiveness of curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment processes and outcomes.

The IBE Council

The governing body of the Institute is the IBE council, composed of 12 representatives from Member States designated by UNESCO’s General Conference, for four year office terms. The council’s role is to approve the IBE’s draft programme and budget for each biennium for submission to the General Conference, as well as to ensure consistent and complementary activities in line with the education sector's strategy and programmes.

Communities and networks

For the IBE to be the Global Centre of Excellence in curriculum it is essential to strengthen partnerships, enhance collaboration and improve networking opportunities focusing on key actors and strategic partners, particularly curriculum specialists and curriculum development centres.

Lead innovation in curriculum and learning

The curriculum is one of the most effective tools for bridging the gap between education and development. However, there is little to no normative guidance on what constitutes a well-balanced responsive curriculum at different levels of education.

Address critical and current issues

Strengthen the analytical knowledge base

Research evidence on the nature of learning is impressively accumulating and at a fast pace. However, this impressively accumulating wealth of knowledge is not being effectively applied to improve practice in the facilitation of learning.

Ensure quality and relevance of education and learning

While indispensable to quality improvement efforts, curriculum and learning depend on the effective and efficient functioning of other elements of an education system. A systemic approach is therefore required to analyse critical impediments and implement responsive interventions.

Global dialogue and intellectual leadership

Inclusive dialogue is a precondition for consensus on the value of the curriculum to global education and development efforts. The IBE leads in generating opportunities for intellectual discussion aimed at recognising the still understated potential of curriculum to democratize learning and to create lifelong opportunities for all.

Capacity development

Substantial curriculum investments must yield regenerative and sustainable results. This means over time countries must be able to strengthen their own curriculum development capabilities. Acknowledging this, the IBE provides enabling support through knowledge-sharing, skills transfer, policy and technical advice, and professional development courses, among other strategies.

Knowledge creation and management

Education stakeholders have come to rely on mounting research evidence on teaching and learning that, ironically, is challenging to obtain and often written in scientific language not easily understood in common terms. At IBE we identify, select, and interpret research findings for policy-making and practical application in curriculum and learning.

IBE Documentation Centre

The IBE Documentation Centre collects and makes available documentation and information pertaining to the content of education, curriculum development and teaching methods. Resources collected at the Documentation Centre are part of the IBE knowledge base on curricula and education systems.

Employment

In constantly evolving societies, UNESCO's mission is more relevant than ever, tackling global cultural, social, ethical, scientific and communication challenges on a daily basis. As UNESCO’s Centre of Excellence in curriculum and related matters, we support Member States to enhance the effectiveness of student learning by promoting excellence in curriculum design, learning and assessment processes. We are looking for talented individuals from around the globe to help us meet this challenge. We invite you to explore the opportunities and benefits of working with us.

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Content Section

IBE to lead a side event at the World Education Forum in Korea

As we are reaching the 2015 deadline for the Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goal (MDGs), leaders, governments, and education actors from the four corners of our planet are meeting for the World Education Forum (WEF) in Korea. UNESCO will be leading the way at the WEF, in collaboration with six co-conveners, to build a powerful new education agenda that will transform lives.

Curriculum needs to be understood not as a stack of subject syllabi and the associated textbooks, teacher guides and timetables, but as the means through which education supports development, holistic and sustainable. For reforms to be effective, the curriculum should reflect a society’s shared vision of education while taking into account local, national and global needs and expectations. It should be based on multi-stakeholder discussions that seek common understandings and political and social consensus.

The central role of curriculum must be at the heart of the post-2015 education and development landscape. Yet, what is needed is a root-and-branch audit, assessment and evaluation of the curriculum, in terms of its purpose, content and associated skills and values, in every country that is serious in its commitment to achieving the targets associated with SDG 4 and the entire post-2015 Sustainable Development agenda.

The principal guiding questions would be why and how:

does curriculum matter for quality education?

does curriculum matter for the effective realization of SDG 4, and in the commitment to the post-2015 development goals in their entirety?”

Moderator

Ms Camilla Croso

Camilla Croso is the President of Global Campaign for Education since 2011 and Coordinator of the Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE) since 2006, a network with members from across the region. She graduated from the University of São Paulo in 1994 and received masters on Social Policy and Planning in Developing Countries from the London School of Economics in 1998.

Panelists

Ms Mmantsetsa Marope, Director IBE

Dr. Mmantsetsa Marope assumed the role of Director of the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) on 15 July 2014. Previously, she held several posts at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris including the Director of the Division for Basic to Higher Education and Learning.

Mr Jan van den Akker

Jan van den Akker is Director General of SLO (Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development). Besides, he is Professor Emeritus in the domain of Curriculum Design and Implementation at the University of Twente and a member of the Netherlands UNESCO committee.

Mr Khalifa Ali AlSuwaidi

Dr. Khalifa Ali Alsuwaidi is a Representative of the Hamdan Award Board of Trustees in the UNESCO-Hamdan Prize and Permanent Jury (UAE) and is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction of the Faculty of Education, at the United Arab Emirates University.

About IBE-UNESCO

About IBE-UNESCO

IBE-UNESCO is the global centre of excellence in curriculum and related matters. As a leading UNESCO Institute we are recognized and valued for the specialist knowledge and expertise that we bring to Member States promoting new shared global understanding of curriculum issues.